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thistlechaserViking Boy by Tony Bradman
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Loved (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
This book is the reason I'm willing to read middle grade books.
What a wonderful story this was! Though written for younger readers, it was completely enjoyable for adults as well.
Set in viking times, a boy goes through all kinds of trials to accomplish a personal quest. While that sounds like an all too common plot, the characters were all wonderful, realistic people (from major to minor). The bad guy was realistic and completely believable -- there was no black and white here.
But, as good as the characters are, the world was even better. While it was set on Earth in a real time period, and while it was very realistically written, it had a really nice "supernatural" (religious? mythical?) element as well: All the viking stories were real, all the gods and mythical beings really existed and sometimes took interest in mortals.
Though this book was written for middle school kids (thus even younger than YA), the author did the very best thing any author could do: He trusted his readers. He never came out and said "This is a [supernatural thing]" but he gave hints and let the reader put the pieces together.
The one small thing I disliked was the ending. It felt seriously abrupt and I wishthe book never ended it had gone on at least a while more, but the story did have a conclusion.
If this author had written more books I had any interest at all in, I'd snap them all up. Unfortunately he writes mostly children books that are retelling of fairy tales (Rapunzel Lets Her Hair Down, Red Riding Hood Takes Charge, etc).
Black Wolf: A World at War Novel by Mitchell T. Jacobs
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
I should have reviewed this book as soon as I knew I was going to stick with Viking Boy, but I didn't and now I can't remember anything about this one.
I know it was MMORPG with additional issues as well (typos? Unbelievable characters?) but I can't recall now what they were. Whatever the reasons, I stopped reading at 3%. (What a useful review this is!)
Partial book credits:
Point reached in this book: 3%
Previous abandoned book total: 372%
New total: 372% (3 books!)
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Loved (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
This book is the reason I'm willing to read middle grade books.
What a wonderful story this was! Though written for younger readers, it was completely enjoyable for adults as well.
Set in viking times, a boy goes through all kinds of trials to accomplish a personal quest. While that sounds like an all too common plot, the characters were all wonderful, realistic people (from major to minor). The bad guy was realistic and completely believable -- there was no black and white here.
But, as good as the characters are, the world was even better. While it was set on Earth in a real time period, and while it was very realistically written, it had a really nice "supernatural" (religious? mythical?) element as well: All the viking stories were real, all the gods and mythical beings really existed and sometimes took interest in mortals.
Though this book was written for middle school kids (thus even younger than YA), the author did the very best thing any author could do: He trusted his readers. He never came out and said "This is a [supernatural thing]" but he gave hints and let the reader put the pieces together.
The one small thing I disliked was the ending. It felt seriously abrupt and I wish
If this author had written more books I had any interest at all in, I'd snap them all up. Unfortunately he writes mostly children books that are retelling of fairy tales (Rapunzel Lets Her Hair Down, Red Riding Hood Takes Charge, etc).
Black Wolf: A World at War Novel by Mitchell T. Jacobs
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
I should have reviewed this book as soon as I knew I was going to stick with Viking Boy, but I didn't and now I can't remember anything about this one.
I know it was MMORPG with additional issues as well (typos? Unbelievable characters?) but I can't recall now what they were. Whatever the reasons, I stopped reading at 3%. (What a useful review this is!)
Partial book credits:
Point reached in this book: 3%
Previous abandoned book total: 372%
New total: 372% (3 books!)
